In Honor of Mike Rogers – the man, the mentor, the legacy

Mike Rogers was the President of OmStout Consulting, LLC. A nationally recognized expert in residential energy-efficiency, he worked with contractors to strengthen their businesses and help programs and policy-makers scale sustainable market approaches to improving homes. Mike also worked with ABM Energy and was the Senior Vice President with GreenHomes America (an ABM subsidiary). For 20 years, he worked on energy-efficiency from individual homes to policy at the state and federal levels. Mike was a frequent presenter at national home performance conferences and was a Pearl Certification Advisor. Mike also had an 11-year affiliation with the U.S. EPA as an employee and consultant. In particular, he was the lead developer and primary supporter of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) program jointly run by the U.S. EPA and U.S DOE.

We lost an industry giant yesterday. Mike Rogers passed away early morning, losing the hardest battle he fought to a rare form of cancer. He was 54. I am utterly heartbroken for the loss of my friend, my mentor, and my greatest advocate. There is a Mike-shaped hole left in our industry, and the collective hearts he touched. It’s moments like these I would turn to Mike.

He would tell me that while he is gone, the work doesn’t stop. We keep going. HTFU! He’d say don’t worry about my legacy, just keep moving the industry forward! Mike was an industry leader who was full of passion, integrity and realism. Mike told us like it was, whether we wanted to hear it or not. Mike was a leader in the truest sense: he helped others lead.

Mike led the industry to much progress, from Home Performance with ENERGY STAR to market rate adoption of the home performance business model. He participated in, or helped found most of the organizations you know and love. He has many accolades. You will hear them shared over the coming months, and he deserves all of the respect it commands. But those accomplishments, grand as they are, are not why the industry mourns the loss of Mike. He helped every person he could, every contracting business that was willing to listen, every young professional trying to figure out how to make this a career. Mike taught me – taught us – that the hard things are worth fighting for. And he helped us find our own fire, to carry the torch. And I proudly carry that torch.

For this, I have hope. Mike helped many ignite their passion for this industry. He helped encourage many young diverse would-be leaders to embed in this industry. He wanted us to carry forward with this vision.

No one of consequence. Mike claimed this about himself. I know he meant it in the philosophical sense; in the grand scheme of the universe we are no one of consequence. But in our world, in mine, he was of great consequence. Thank you, Mike.